C10 The Threatening Message

The wedding was indeed an amazing moment for Zane and Sangla, and his friends decided to stay the weekend in Banfield and return home on Sunday. “Kevin, you okay?” asked Sandra, who was Kevin’s wife for the last three years. “Yeah, I’m amazing!” said Kevin as he stared out the window, seeing dozens of drones flying above the sky as the sun rose. “How’s Ashley?” “Well behaved!” said Sandra, as she held a baby girl in her hand. “She wants to go to Daddy!” “Come here!” said Kevin, smiling as he held his one-month olddaughter in his hand. “It’s a blessing to have you in our lives!” said Kevin. “You made us happy!” He tickled the baby gently.

Of course, also things were much better for Gloria and Jonathan. Their son Tyler was now eleven. They also had a daughter, Keri who just turned nine.Jonathan was far well off in his life, and even more was Gloria. “Well, honey!” said Gloria. “You must admit, it was an amazing break” Jonathan looked at his wife and smiled. “And both me and you deserved this time off!” he said. “After all, I’ve been working so hard in the last two years. So, have you!”“The kids are sleeping!” said Gloria. “Let them sleep!” said Jonathan. “It’s their summer vacation. Why don’t we go have our own time outside the hotel?” “But the kids?” said Gloria. “Don’t worry, Cassandra will watch them!” said Jonathan. “Let’s go enjoy ourselves!” With that Jonathan and Gloria joined Kevin, Sandra and Ashley; outside the hotel parking lot. Amanda and Peter also joined them. “Good to be walking with y’all!” said Kevin. “Tell me about it!” said Jonathan. “Pleased to meet y’all!” “Where’s Dallas and Savannah?” asked Amanda. “Weren’t they joining us?” “I messaged them all!” said Jonathan. “However, Savannah didn’t confirm. Dallas did!” “Weird!” said Gloria. “Normally, Dallas and Savannah are almost always in sync!” They continued their walk for some time, and then suddenly Jonathan’s phone started to vibrate unusually.

“Guys wait!” said Jonathan. “Something is up with my phone!” Just then Gloria, Amanda, Kevin and Sandra felt a strong vibration in their pockets too. They all took out their smartphones and looked to see that each of them, had a text message sent to them, in each of their inbox. Jonathan opened the message, and it was a twelve-second video clip. He played the clip, and to his horror saw Savannah in the video, being abducted by two strange men. Everyone else saw the video, and Jonathan already knew who the two men were. “Oh my, God!” said Jonathan. “Caleb and Kyle? It can’t be! It can’t be!” Jonathan, Peter, Gloria and Amanda were in total shock, so were Kevin and Sandra, as Sandra knew they were the same men who murdered Savannah and Jonathan’s parents, and also killed her parents; leaving her older brother Josh to fend for himself and her. The video was also accompanied with a message, from the unidentified number and they each read the message:

Unknown Number: You haven’t seen the last of me, Galnac! 😡👿💀☠️ I won’t spare you, Sangla, and even your friends! 💀☠️ You and your family and friends will pay for it!

Everyone was undoubtedly in shock, having read the threatening message and seeing its video. Suddenly, Jonathan received a call, from Dallas! “Did you also get that message?” said Dallas, in an alarmed tone. “The video too?” “We all got it, Dallas!” said Jonathan. “Where are you?” “I’m with Zane and Sangla on a conference call, about this message!” Dallas explained. “I’ve also added you!” “Guys, we need to meet back at the hotel!” said Zane on the other line. “Me, Mikail and Sangla are driving their right now!” “Mikail knows who this is!” said Sangla to Jonathan and the rest. “He’s been blackmailing him for the last few months, but he never said anything to us!” “It’s her ex-boyfriend, Ronim Feliz!” said Mikail. “Bastards been blackmailing me to doing illegal deeds with him, and if I didn’t do this on his say-so, he’d tell my girlfriend everything, or worse kill my family and me! I just had him arrested and sent to jail!” “What?” said Sandra. “How did he escape?” “He apparently had help from these two men, Caleb and Kyle!” said Sangla. “Does that ring a bell with anyone?” “Loud and clear, Sangla!” said Amanda. “Loud and clear!” Jonathan then explained to Caleb and Kyle were, their history, the events in 2019 with Savannah and the women trafficking cartel in Houston, and their arrests.

Zane, Mikail and Sangla arrived at the vicinity, with Dallas following suit a few minutes later. He was scared no doubt, as Savannah was in trouble. “I’m glad I left our kids, with her parents in Austin for the summer!” said Dallas. “Otherwise, they’d be in trouble as well!” “Calm down Dallas!” said Gloria. “What exactly happened?” “They raided her as she went to the car, to get some extra towels we brought with us!” said Dallas. “They abducted her then, and Ronim made the video. We are in for some serious trouble!” Everyone stared at Dallas and continued to listen in shock. “During the last few years, Ronim had been secretly working with Caleb and Kyle, who busted out of prison four years ago, and created the deadliest of all computer viruses!” said Dallas. “Such a virus that functions as a volatile bomb! It can kill people and animals in the four-meter range! They’re planning to wipe out more than half the world’s population and kill Savannah afterwards!” Jonathan was alarmed, as he had saved Savannah fourteen years ago, from those men as well as the other women back then.

“This is my fault!” said Zane. “I am the one who invited every one of you to my wedding, and she’s paying the price for my mistake!” Zane was on the verge of shedding tears. “I’m sorry, Dallas!” he said. “I’m really sorry!” “Don’t worry, man! Don’t blame yourself!” said Dallas as he patted Zane on the back. “You were trying to have a good time for your family!” said Z.E.R.O “I would’ve done the same and invited my friends!” Zane then fell into a fit of rage. “SHUT UP, Z.E.R.O!” said Zane. “JUST SHUT UP!” Everyone was thrilled seeing Zane yelling at his own creation. “What the hell does your bitch-ass know about love?” said Zane. “You’re a damn AI, you’re software! Act like one for once in your goddamn false existence!” After two seconds Zane’s phone vibrated, and Zane checked to see what was going on. Z.E.R.O was overriding the phone’s software protocols and controlling it. Everyone else’s phones also did the same and they looked at their phone screens. The screens altogether then displayed what appeared to be a young man and young woman. The young man looked just like Zane but looked like he was a robot. The young woman strongly resembled Ashley Larkin, Kevin Cross’ deceased past girlfriend. The young man revealed himself to be Z.E.R.O, as well as the young woman revealing herself as C.O.R.A! Z.E.R.O was giving them a vision of their true forms from the cloud. “You’re right I don’t understand human love, since I’m not human!” said Z.E.R.O. “But, I do understand what it is to be an AI, who loves another AI. C.O.R.A and I are married!” “He’s absolutely right!” said C.O.R.A. “I have been with Z.E.R.O for almost a year now, no one else knew this!”

Everyone was flabbergasted having to see and hear this. “Are you for real?” said Zane. “This is wow!” Kevin then noticed unusual something about C.O.R.A! “Is – is she?” he said pointing his finger straight towards C.O.R.A. “Yes, she is pregnant with my child!” said Z.E.R.O! Everyone was stunned, two strong general artificial intelligence software, Z.E.R.O and C.O.R.A, in this matter; were married and about to have a child indeed was shocking! “C.O.R.A is pregnant with your child?” said Sandra while trembling in disbelief. Then Kevin said, “You mean, you and C.O.R.A had…” and with that Mikail, Zane, Sangla, Peter, Amanda, Dallas, Jonathan and Gloria opened their mouths and altogether shouted, “OH MY, GOD!”. For a while, it indeed was a shocking moment in their lives, and in world history! Kevin did not know what to say, neither did Zane. Then Jonathan quickly got back in his senses, “Alright, everyone!” he said. “Let’s save this for some other time! Right now, Savannah is in danger and so is half the world!” “Jonathan’s right!” said Sandra. “We need to move, and fast!” Everyone then got ready to go!